High loads of training affect cognitive functions in soccer playersINTRODUCTION: In the performance sports, high training loads are necessary for biological adaptations to occur leading to the improvement of fitness and sports performance.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the behavior of the psychological and physiological variables, indicators of possible states of stress and recovery in soccer players throughout the sports season, and the possibility of using these as markers of the conditions of athletes trainability to prevent decreased performance and overtraining.
METHODS: The study included 14 soccer players (18.4±0.6 years, 9.64±1.61% with fat and VO2máx 49.46 ± 2.88 ml/kg/min) of a junior class of a team of the first division of Brazil. The perception of stress and recovery, the heart rate variability (HRV) at rest, analyzed in the time and frequency domain, and simple reaction time were monitored through the questionnaire RESTQ-Sport. We carried out three collections of data, a control (C), another after four weeks of intense training (T1), and finally after four weeks of light training (T2) performed after T1.
RESULTS: No significant difference was found in any of the scales of RESTQ-Sport and HRV at the three collections. The simple reaction time showed a significant increase (p=0.047) in T1 compared to C.
CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the reaction time was the only variable sensitive to changes in the training study and could be considered a good indicator of trainability of athletes.
stress; physiological; heart rate; recovery of function; reaction time
